Subscribe To

Tuesday, 19 April 2016

News from Syria - 04/18/2016

The
Geneva peace talks have gridlocked as the Saudi-backed Syrian
opposition has withdrawn once again, slamming the UN’s diplomatic
mediator for “bias.” The Syrian government has reproved the move,
blaming the opposition for derailing the negotiations.

Accusing
Bashar Assad’s forces of violating a Russia-US-brokered truce that
has been in place since the end of February and blocking humanitarian
access to besieged areas, the opposition’s High Negotiations
Committee (HNC) said it was “absurd” to continue
negotiations.“We
asked for the postponement of talks, only a postponement until the
conditions are right for a resumption of negotiations,” Mohammad
al Aboud, a member of the negotiating team, told Reuters.

In
the meantime, the HNC has called for a “serious
review” of
the UN-brokered talks, saying that its suspension will provide time
to make necessary changes, while referring specifically to the Syrian
President, who it says needs to leave in order for the negotiations
to move forward.

The
decision “is
a chance for all to implement (the relevant UN resolution) and to
respond to the main issue, which is forming a governing body in which
(President Bashar) Assad has no role,” Riad
Agha, a delegation member, posted on
his Facebook on behalf of the HNC.

The
group has accused Staffan de Mistura of being biased towards
President Bashar Assad, urging the UN mediator to“take
firm and decisive stances towards the half-solutions being propagated
... by the regime’s allies.”

“We
follow with great concern and outright rejection the moves of de
Mistura, some of which show a total bias towards ... the demands of
the regime and its allies,” a
letter signed by unspecified “armed
revolutionary factions” read,
according to Reuters.

The
opposition sees the Syrian Army’s attempts to recapture Aleppo as a
violation of the ceasefire.

“All
these interventions give a clear indication that the solution in
Syria with the presence of this regime has become shut or we have hit
a wall,” Mohammed
Alloush, the HNC’s chief negotiator, told AP.

The
government, for its part, is saying that it is trying to capture
areas currently held by Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL), which is
not part the cease fire.

Meanwhile
in Geneva, de Mistura and his team are trying to remain optimistic,
hoping that the HNC members will remain in Switzerland and the talks
will continue “in
the Palais or anywhere else.” De
Mistura acknowledged that there is a “clearly
wide” gap
between the opposition and the Assad government, which he described
as “exactly
the nature of negotiations.”

“

On
Friday we will take stock of the discussions, review what we have
come up with, having learned from every side their own positions, and
then decide on how and when how to move forward on what is expected
anyway to be a series of discussions on and off in order to focus on
political transition,” he
told reporters.

This
time, the Syrian opposition team consists of only three
representatives instead of the usual 10-15. They have agreed to
engage in “technical” discussions, saying they will be a litmus
test for their further participation.

“We
will stay until at least the end of the week. If there is some
progress, some signs that things will be settled, we will continue.
If not, of course we will leave,” HNC
member Monzer Makhous told Sputnik news agency.

De
Mistura plans to “take
stock of the discussions” on
Friday, acknowledging that reaching an agreement will not quick.
Possibly trying to downplay the significance of the pause, he said
there is still “some
time” left.

“As
you know, the timetable is up to August. That is what has been so far
seen as a timetable for getting a new constitution and getting the
political transition. So, we do have some time, not much in history,
but we do, and it is certainly not today or tomorrow,” he said,
stressing that, despite the gridlock, some progress had still been
made.

Obama
praises US-led coalition for crushing ISIS, fails to mention Russian,
Syrian victoriesHowever,
Damascus remains skeptical about the prospects of reaching a much
hoped for compromise with the opposition, which it says is not truly
interested in political dialogue.

“What
the Riyadh faction or the so-called Group of Saudi Arabia announced
confirms what we have already revealed to public opinion: the
Israeli-Saudi-Turkish will to derail inter-Syrian negotiations in
Geneva,” Syria’s
Chief Negotiator Bashar Jaafari said.“The
Saudi Arabia faction only waited two days to announce this commitment
to derail the talks, and this is proof that these negotiators do not
have the political will essential to establish a serious and
responsible dialogue.”

In
Russia, which has long been trying to help Syria put end to its
five-year civil war, the HNC’s pause was met with clear
disappointment.

“We
regret that the HNC’s delegation has halted its participation in
the negotiations. This decision is a mistake on their part,” Russia’s
permanent representative to the UN, Aleksey Borodavkin, said, adding
that the suspension proves the Saudi-backed opposition has now been
taken over by extremists and had never been interested in finding a
political resolution.

“The
halt of HNC’s participation in the talks is, unfortunately, an
evidence that extremists prevail in the composition of this
delegation, which from the outset did not want any negotiations and
put forward preconditions and ultimatums, and, in fact, continues to
rely on the continuation of the bloody armed conflict in the
country,” Borodavkin,
said.

As
Guardian columnist Jonathan Steele told RT, the Syrian opposition is
failing to find unity within its ranks not only on the battlefield,
but also at the negotiating table, forcing it to simply refrain from
discussions and accuse the government.

“There
is a deadlock in the in Geneva peace talks and again, just as the
opposition is divided over their tactics on the battlefield, they are
also divided in their tactics over the negotiations. There are some
people who are unwilling to make any concessions or to sit down with
the government of Syria, their delegation, and so they want to break
away from these talks and somehow put the blame of the Syrian
government for having let the talks fail,” Steele
said.

Syrian
civilians become victims of Turkey shelling Kurds (EXCLUSIVE)

While
Ankara claims its ongoing military crackdown only targets terrorists,
civilians often fall victim to the offensive – and not just in
Turkey’s Kurdish-populated provinces, but also across the border in
Syria where people suffer from cross-border shelling daily.READ
MORE: http://on.rt.com/7acu

Silence about this from the usual sources except for the imperial mouthpiece, the BBC

DAMASCUS:
The Second Legislative Elections are now complete and all votes have
been counted as announced by His Honor, Advisory Judge Hishaam
Al-Shara’ who heads the High Judicial Electoral Committee. Once
again, SyrPer takes the lead in exposing the lies about Syria’s
government and people. We exposed them last year with our listing of
the members of the government and their religion to demonstrate that
Syria is ruled by the majority – NOT BY SOME ESOTERIC MINORITY, as
claimed by the enemies of the Syrian people. Today, we demonstrate
again the fact that Syria is a multifaceted, mosaic society whose
government reflects the character, texture, fabric and make-up of her
population

Syria
- "Rebel" Sponsors Order A New Round Of Defeat

The
Obama administration has obviously decided to restart the war in
Syria. Thousands of tons of new weapons have
been purchased and delivered to
the Jihadists including anti-air MANPADs of U.S. (full
text)and Chinese origin.
Half of the weapons the "rebel" mercenaries are given by
their sponsors regularly end up in the hands of Al-Qaeda in Syria. We
will not be surprised when a few weeks from now a civilian passenger
plane will be hit and come down in Turkey or elsewhere.

Two
week ago the foreign supported "rebels" already broke
the ceasefire when
they took part in a large al-Qaeda attack south of Aleppo city.
Several "rebel" attacks took place against the Kurdish
quarter in Aleppo city with over a hundred civilian death. Other
attacks took place in north Latakia.

Today
the "rebels" announced a full return
to open war and
more fronts were
reopenedincluding in
north Hama
where Uighur "Turkmen" Jihadis used two suicide bombers
against the Syrian government positions.

The
UN sponsored talks in Geneva went nowhere and the "rebel"
side now
suspended them to
renew the fighting. Only three men of the Saudi controlled "rebel"
negotiating team attended today. They still insist on the
unconstitutional removal of the Syrian president before agreeing to
any further talks about a unity government.

The
Syrian army has suspended its ongoing offensive against the Islamic
State. The plan was to march from the recently freed Palmyra to the
Islamic State held Deir Ezzor in the east. The troops have now
been recalled to
protect the Syrian people from the renewed "rebel" attacks
in west Syria. This may well fit the U.S. intentions in its phony
war on ISIS.

There
will soon be reports about local retreats of the Syrian army from
this or that town or hill. Do not give them too much weight. Since
the Russian intervention last year the Syrian troops have orders to
retreat when under hard pressure. This to preserve manpower. As soon
has the enemy occupies a position the artillery and air force will
take care of them. Then, when the enemy attack has been blunted, the
Syrian army and their allies on the ground will reoccupy the position
and if possible launch counterattacks.

The
Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Suleiman visited Moscow last
week. After his first visit last summer the Russian intervention was
planned and executed. It brought the "rebels" to the border
of total defeat. Their sponsors then agreed to a ceasefire and to
hold talks in Geneva. Since the ceasefire announcement on February 27
the time was used by the U.S. to rearm and reposition the "rebel"
force.

It
seems that another round of the cycle is now necessary. Iran has
deployed regular ground troops in Syria and these, even while not yet
battle-tested, will have some effect. The Syrian air force has been
reequipped and its older planes have been updated. Russian
helicopters are active on the Syrian front and new short range (200
km) "Iskander" ballistic missiles were recently seen. The
Russian air force can additionally engage with long range flights
from Russia against fixed targets in Syria within hours. Russia
cruise missile carrying ships are near the Syrian coast.

It
is foolish to believe that MANPADs and TOW anti tank systems can
decisively change the situation on the ground. I expect that a few
week of heavy fighting will now follow after which the "rebels"
will again be exhausted and again on the border of defeat.